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East Gippsland Shire Council Adopts a Wood Encouragement Policy

Date:11-Aug-16Author: David Rowlinson

Library at the Dock, Melbourne

At its council meeting in August East Gippsland Shire Council voted unanimously to adopt a Wood Encouragement Policy (WEP).

There are now two regional and seven local councils that have adopted a WEP in Australia, and Rotorua Lakes Council has done some ground-breaking work in New Zealand. In addition, the adoption of similar policies around the world is growing steadily, including Canada, Japan, France, Finland, Netherlands and the UK, who are all encouraging the use of natural timber-based products in construction

A WEP generally requires responsibly sourced wood to be considered, where feasible, as the primary construction material in council building and fit out projects.

Among the policy aims council wanted to ‘lead the way through encouraging sustainable adoption and sourcing of timber as a building material’, and to ‘promote the industry as a renewable and sustainable resource along with the advantages of timber based products in the design and construction phase of council projects’.

We applaud council for taking this initiative and look forward to working with both local and state governments in the further adoption of policies in the future.